The #RentboyRaid has drawn the ire of everyone from the Editorial Board of The New York Times to, well, the people the raid actually affects. Tomorrow, a coalition of groups including local political clubs the Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club, Stonewall Democrats, and Lambda Independent Democrats of Brooklyn (LID) will gather at the U.S. Federal Court for the Eastern District of New York, located at 225 Cadman Plaza East in Brooklyn. For the Facebook event click here.

LGBT and Civil Liberties Advocates Denounce Arrests of Rentboy.com Staff and Call for Dropping Charges and Decriminalization of Sex Work

RALLY Thurs., Sept. 3rd, Noon, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York in Brooklyn Heights

LGBT activists, civil rights organizations, the #HookUp Collaborative and supporters will hold a demonstration this Thursday, Sept. 3rd, at Noon outside the U.S. Eastern District Courthouse in downtown Brooklyn to demand that the U.S. Attorney stop the prosecution of Rentboy.com and drop all charges after the raid on them by Homeland Security and NYPD.

We are outraged at this latest example of the abuse and selective prosecution of sex workers. We are sick and tired of this misuse of government time and money to persecute members of the sex industry. This unrelenting harassment and persecution endangers the health and safety of these workers and their clients, and disproportionately targets the poor and people of color.

We demand an end to this system of criminalization.

WHAT: Demonstration to protest Rentboy.com prosecutions and criminalization of sex work

WHEN: Thursday, September 3, 2015 at 12 noon

WHERE: United States Court for the Eastern District, 225 Cadman Plaza East (on Cadman Plaza Park near corner of Tillary Street; take A or C to High Street or 2 or 3 to Clark St. in Brooklyn Heights). See map here

BACKGROUND: With offices near Manhattan’s Union Square, Rentboy.com, a nearly two-decade-old website for male escorts, was raided on Aug. 25, 2015 by Homeland Security agents in concert with NYPD. The US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Mr. Kelly T. Currie, is prosecuting seven individuals for felonies in a high-profile case that quickly drew criticism around the country including from the New York Times. The call for the decriminalization of sex work has just been made by Amnesty International, Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders (GLAD), the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE), the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR), and the Transgender Law Center and previously been called for by the ACLU, Human Rights Watch (HRW), the World Health Organization (WHO), the Global Commission on HIV and the Law, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health, the UN Development Programme, UN Women, and UNAIDS.